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Vocabulary
Objective: Recognise and produce the standard French weather expressions using faire, il y a, and impersonal verbs.
| French | English | Construction |
|---|---|---|
| Il fait beau. | The weather is nice. | faire + adjective |
| Il fait mauvais. | The weather is bad. | faire + adjective |
| Il fait chaud. | It is hot. | faire + adjective |
| Il fait froid. | It is cold. | faire + adjective |
| Il fait doux. | It is mild. | faire + adjective |
| Il y a du soleil. | It is sunny. | il y a + noun |
| Il y a des nuages. | It is cloudy. | il y a + noun |
| Il y a du vent. | It is windy. | il y a + noun |
| Il y a du brouillard. | It is foggy. |
Weather uses faire, not être, so warmth is expressed as il fait chaud rather than il est chaud.
Snowfall uses the impersonal verb neiger directly, so the noun neige never follows faire in standard French.
The standard weather question uses the impersonal il and the verb faire.
Two constructions appear in one sentence: faire for the general condition and il y a for the sun.
The temperature adjective follows faire. The season takes the preposition en.
Pleuvoir is an impersonal verb and appears only with the third-person singular il.
Neiger follows the same impersonal pattern as pleuvoir. The place expression follows the verb.
5 exercises · about 8 minutes
| il y a + noun |
| Il pleut. | It is raining. | impersonal verb |
| Il neige. | It is snowing. | impersonal verb |
| Il gèle. | It is freezing. | impersonal verb |
Sun and clouds use il y a because the construction marks presence, while être describes a state that persists.
The English idiom has no direct French equivalent, and heavy rain uses the fixed expression il pleut des cordes.
Wind uses il y a with the masculine partitive du. The location follows the noun.
Both constructions appear together in a seasonal description. The season takes the preposition en.
The near future uses aller plus the infinitive. This is the standard way to forecast rain.